An absolutely perfect big brown from yesterday, courtesy of Wade Schools- he is an accomplished young angler who ties some of our cool weighted Euro-style nymphs. If I had to guess, I'd say this one is wild, it has all the characteristics you look for. While September is typically a month you have to work harder for your Farmington trout, as you can see from the picture it is quite possible to catch a beauty if you work hard at it and pay your dues. Wade went out at first light and fished for several hours. Early & late are still the best times to hit bigger fish, either that or fish at night with mice, bulky streamers & big wets.We will have the sale tables out this holiday weekend, with all sorts of cool stuff at a discount. Inside look for markdown labels on packs, rods, and other items. We also have all sorts of new products, this is the time of year when the new batches of toys come out.
FYI the state stocked the river on Thursday with a bunch of trout, from just BELOW the permanent C&R section (the Rt 219 bridge), all the way down to the Rt 177 bridge in Unionville. Hard to beat a black Woolly Bugger on fresh stockers. As of September 1st, the entire upper 21 miles of the river from the dam in Riverton down to the Rt 177 bridge n Unionville is all a seasonal Catch & Release until 6am on Opening Day in April. You may see people unknowingly (and some knowingly...) illegally keeping trout this month, if so please POLITELY inform them that it's C&R now, and if they go below Rt 177 in Unionville, they can still keep 5 trout over 9". Don't hold me to it, but the state will likely stock today from ABOVE the Catch & Release (Whittemore Pool), all the way up to the dam in Riverton. All these stocked areas will be C&R until Opening Day. They only stock the permanent C&R (bridge abutment at tail of Whittemore down to Rt 219 bridge in New Hartford) section in April.
While September is normally a time of year when you have to work harder to catch your trout here, we got some great reports from some (not all!) of our anglers lately. Flying Ants have been on the water, they were small- try #22-24 patterns to match them. Anglers venturing out in the mornings & fishing the pools sre seeing hatches of Tricos, Summer/Winter Caddis, and Needhami (a chocolate brown bodied mayfly). Morning bugs are SMALL, so make sure your dries reflect this. By small I mean #20-24 on the Summer/Winter Caddis, and #22-26 on the Tricos & Needhami. This is very precise fishing- your casts need to be delicate (long leaders help), accurate to the inch, and drag-free (long/light tippets help a lot with this). Early to mid morning is currently seeing the best & longest hatching activity. Big #10-14 Iso's come off somewhere between late afternoon & evening, and then in the last 1/2 hour there is typically a potpourri of different bugs all out at once, so don't leave too early. Midday is the slowest, I'd recommend either working the shadelines with terrestrials and/or fishing the faster, broken water with nymphs, attractor dries & terrestrials. The midday exception would be Flying Ants, they are often on the water then, and this is prime-time in late Summer. When a mating flight of them lands on the water, the trout go a little nuts. You are most apt to see them on warm, muggy day & the day after some rain too. First light with a big stonefly nymph or a streamer would be a good tactic to nail a bigger fish. Or go out at night and fish mice, big wets or streamers.
The Farmington is an excellent medium 304cfs flow, nice & clear through the Catch & Release area/TMA. Currently the best fishing remains mornings & later evenings, which correlates exactly to when the best bug activity generally is. Afternoons see very little hatching, but if you look around & move you can usually drum up a few on Midges, ants & beetles- look for sporadic risers, or blind fish terrestrials along shady banks, current seams & stucture (rocks, sunken logs, etc.). You can also nymph the faster water. Other than the big Stoneflies (#6-10) & Isonychia (averaging #12-14 now, with some up to #10), almost everything else is small, so your fly patterns, both dries & nymphs, should reflect that- beetles & ants are often an exception, with patterns in the #14-18 range usually small enough. Speaking of ants, we've been seeing tiny black Flying Ants on the water some days (not all), try matching them with a #22-24 pattern. They usually appear the day after some rain, and/or on warmer, humid days. This time of year there is typically a brief flurry of hatching activity right at the edge of darkness, so stay late.90 degree, sunny days can push it to dark & after, cooler/cloudy days can see it happen a little earlier. At night's end you may see tan Caddis (#16-20), varous sizes of Cahills/Summer Steno's (#10-20), small Olives (#20-24), and assorted spinners in rust/cream/olive. White Flies have been hatching in the Catch & Release secction, they are #12-14 and come off at the very end of the night. The nymphs live in slow, silty pools, so I usually try to target that hatch with dries where riffles soften out into the flatter pool water. The longest hatch window is currently in the mornings, and the AM bugs (Summer/Winter Caddis, Tricos, Needhami, Midges, Olives) average #22-26. Tricos are a very early morning hatch (more of a spinner fall actually)- be in place no later than 6-7am, it's usually done by mid-morning (9-10AM'ish). They average a #24. Currently if you fish streamers, I'd recommend first & last light, and go smaller right now (#8-12). Overcast or rainy days can be above average for streamers too.
Many of you ask were the big trout are.... the answer is everywhere and where you are not. The best trout have grown big by avoiding the easy places to be caught. In general they will be on the bank away from a major access to the river. and in areas that are hard to get to but provide protection. A spot where a big trout will reside usually has a big trout there year after year so if you catch one there.... it or its brother will be there in the future. If you are nymphing with a 2 fly rig, make sure one of your nymphs is small, as in #18-20 (#16 can be small enough if tied on a shorter shank scud style hook). This time of year when flows are at normal summer levels (say 150-350cfs ), the trout really key into smaller nymphs, as that is what is mainly available. The exceptions would be Isonychia & Stoneflies, they are both bigger bugs. Also, nymphing the broken, faster water will greatly outproduce nymphing the softer, slower runs. Focus on medium to fast choppy water, and don't neglect the calf to knee-deep sections. Currently effective nymphs include: Hot Spot Nymphs #14-20, #10 Tungsten Carotene Jig, Wade's Clinger Nymph #16, Olive nymphs #16-20, Yellow Sparkle Prince #16-18, Rainbow Warrior #16-18, Caddis Pupa & Larva in both tan & olive/green #10-18 (#14-18 on the pupa), Jig nymphs #10-16, Pheasant Tails #16-20, Isonychia Nymphs #10-14, Fox Squirrel Nymph #10-14, Prince Nymph #10-18.
-Torrey